A Decorated Pine
by Genie For Your Wish
Summary: She had always wanted a tree of her own to decorate, and look who had heard her wishes. — LokeAries.


My first contribution to the insanely small LoRies fandom. It's pretty cliche and I think I got them a little OOC, but oh well. I hope you guys like this! Oh, and just to be clear, I refer to Loke as 'Leo' during dialogue or when it's from Aries' point of view. Otherwise, I just call him Loke.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Fairy Tail.

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><p>A loud gasp from the usually quiet ram spirit resonated throughout the whole vicinity as she stared in wonder and amazement at the large, green pine tree situated in the centre of the room. Her eyes widened in pure, unadulterated awe as she eyed the tree, slowly losing herself in an amazed trance. It was beautiful. The tree was absolutely stunning. It stood at around six feet tall, and had luscious green leaves that were soft to the touch, titillating her skin at their sensations.<p>

The tall lion spirit behind her let a proud grin grace his features as he watched intently at the spirit's reaction. She was absolutely awed, looking like a child on Christmas Day who had first seen the amount of presents settled underneath the tree. It was ironic however, that the present the simile spoke of was the tree itself. In fact, Loke had gotten this tree just for her. It was her early Christmas present, seeing as how she didn't seem to celebrate Christmas all that much when she was contracted with Angel.

However, now that the ram was contracted with one bubbly Lucy Heartfilia, it meant more freedom for her, and it meant that she could finally receive the happiness he had always believed she deserved. In regards to her happiness, he decided to purchase Aries her very own Christmas tree, her first in a long, long while.

To say it had been a while ago since she had last celebrated Christmas with a Christmas tree of such a stature would have been an understatement. It had been over five years in Earthland time since she had celebrated, due to the unfortunate contracts she had with two rather unpleasant wizards. Aries had been restricted of doing even the most celebratory things so holidays never really meant nothing to her, unless she had Leo around who always managed to brighten her day even for just a little bit.

So to see the tree situated in the centre of her living room had to be the greatest shock of her life. She never would have expected she'd see such a fine evergreen conifer again, and to think it was now solely hers. Aries shuffled around the tree to take a better look before turning to face the lion spirit who had been watching her, a wide grin plastered on her face.

"You got this for _me_ Leo?" she asked in disbelief, still trying to comprehend that she had her very own Christmas tree in the centre of her living space.

Loke's grin widened even more, if it was even possible, as he walked toward her with a confident stride. "You like it Aries? I hand picked it from one of the yards in Earthland. They have better trees over there," he remarked, lifting a hand to softly touch one of the tree's leaves. It was unimaginably soft, just like the ram spirit he had gotten it for. The tree had reminded him of Aries when he first saw it, due to the softness and gentleness the tree's aura seemed to hold. It was the main reason behind his hasty purchase as he figured out a way to get the tree through the Celestial gate.

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Y-You did Leo? I'm sorry you had to go through all the trouble for getting this for me," she apologised in her usual manner, looking sincerely apologetic.

However, as Loke was used to this type of response from her he simply waved her off. "It was nothing Aries. Don't apologise for it. I did it out of my own free will after all," he reassured gently, flashing her a fond smile.

She smiled back at him after being successfully reassured, her eyes darting back to the tree in front of her. She really could never get enough of staring at the tree, and it wasn't even decorated yet. It was still in its original, luscious green form without any festive decorations to brighten it up and get it well suited for the Christmas season. At that thought, the smallest of frowns graced her face as she turned to Leo thoughtfully.

Loke, noticing the girl's sudden change in demeanour, turned to her in concern, his deep care for her beginning to seep out. "What's wrong Aries?" he asked, voice laced with worry.

"The tree is bare. Do you have any Christmas decorations to decorate the tree with Leo? I'm sorry I don't have any. I haven't decorated a tree in a while," she said guiltily, looking down in remorse. Aries felt as though she were asking too much from him, after all he did get her the tree. She hoped that he wouldn't get annoyed with her for having asked.

However, Loke was far from annoyed. In fact, he looked quite the opposite as the concern turned into one of relief and amusement. Of course Aries would feel guilty for asking for something so little. It was in her nature to be the gentle, kind spirit she was. And it was in his nature to do anything to protect her, after all he was the mighty lion, leader of the Zodiacs.

"Don't worry about it Aries. I got it all covered. I knew you wouldn't have anything to decorate with so I took the liberty of asking some of the guys from Fairy Tail to help me look for some Christmas decorations for the tree. They're right here in fact," Loke responded smoothly, lifting up a large, overfilled plastic bag in his hands that she hadn't noticed before.

Her eyes widened at the amount of decorations he had brought. That must have costed quite a lot of gems she realised. At that thought, she did what she did best. "I'm sorry Leo for making you spend so much on the tree," she apologised, eyeing the bag in his hands.

Loke shrugged the apology off casually before placing the bag on the ground, bending down to untie the knot of its handles. Opening the bag up, the two could see the vast range of Christmas baubles, tinsels and lights that were contained inside. Aries couldn't help but let out a soft gasp in surprise.

The baubles were a mix of red and silver, all in different shapes and sizes that ranged from the standard spheres, to cones and glittered stars. There were also large red bows and a pack of candy canes nestled inside, as well as a long roll of gold tinsel. At the bottom of the bag, Aries could see a small corner of the golden star which she assumed would top the tree, making her almost squeal in delight.

She looked up to face Leo, biting her lip in attempt to restrain her excitement. Aries rarely did show excitement to others, it was more of her shyness and timidness instead. So to see her looking so over excited had Loke watching her in utter amusement. She was so very cute when she acted like that, he mused inwardly to himself.

"Go ahead Aries. There's no need to hold back. I'll help you decorate the tree so get going," he remarked, motioning to the bag beneath her.

She gave him a grateful smile before immediately bending down to take a few red spherical baubles in her grasp, walking over to the tree to hang some up. He smiled as he watched her contemplate where she was to put the baubles; it was always amusing to see her when she showed more sides to her rather than her usual shy disposition. Her contemplative side was something he enjoyed watching often, and he knew he was the only one who had ever seen her like this as he was the closest to her. Loke was instantly filled with pride when he realised he had seen more sides of her than anyone could ever hope to see. He was just _that_ special, he inwardly gloated.

Deciding to finally help her, Loke walked over to the bag of decorations and picked out some silver baubles, opting to decorate in silver while Aries decorated in red. "I'll decorate using the silver baubles. You can use the red," he proposed as he hung up a few baubles of his own, making sure to coordinate them correctly on the tree.

Aries simply nodded, too concentrated on finding the perfect spot to place a red ribbon to notice that Loke had paused for a moment to simply stare at her. He was beyond mesmerised at that moment. Loke never really went for the cute, innocent girls but Aries was an exception. He found that she could even make cute beautiful as he watched her stick a small tongue out in concentration.

"L-Leo?" she called out when she noticed the the spirit had remained unmoving. She had just hung yet another red bauble on the pine tree when she noticed the lack of silver on the tree and had turned to ask Leo what was wrong. What she found was his eyes looking at her rather intently, the baubles in his hands lying on the floor forgotten.

"Leo?" she asked once more, cocking her head to the side. Why was Leo looking at her like that? Did she put one of the baubles in the wrong place? Or did she get some extra glitter on her clothes?

Her call immediately snapped him out of his entranced state as he blinked a few times before remembering what he had been doing. He mentally berated himself for spacing out after staring at her for so long. She was probably worrying she had done something wrong again and was most likely getting ready to apologise for something she didn't even do.

"Ah, sorry Aries. I was just thinking about how beautiful you looked," he replied honestly before mentally scolding himself for saying such a thing. Loke had never really called her anything but cute because he didn't want her to become like one of his past flings. He wanted to keep her pure, and at a distance so that she didn't get the wrong idea. Loke actually wanted to make her think he only thought of her as a sister when he actually thought otherwise because he didn't trust himself. He didn't ever want to hurt her, and being the fragile person he thought of her to be, he believed that his past with girls would eventually get to her, and he really did not want that.

Aries looked down as she let an embarrassed blush taint her cheeks, clueless as to how she were to respond to the sudden compliment. It made her heart leap for joy however, that Leo thought of her in such a way. She was glad to hear that she was not just 'cute' to him, but beautiful, like how Lucy was.

The ram spirit decided to just continue on with her business, acting as she never heard him as she picked out a few more red baubles and red ribbons from the bag, moving to hang more up. This left Loke watching after her in a helpless state as he tried thinking of ways to ease the situation. There was an awkward silence that had fallen between the two and Loke was getting uncomfortable. He wasn't used to having silence, especially an awkward silence, with the ram because they were always so open with each other. It was unnerving him to no end.

Aries appeared to notice his distress for she had approached him with the roll of gold tinsel within the bag. Loke stared confusedly at her, wondering what she was doing until she placed one of the ends in his hands and took him gently by the arm, dragging him toward the tree. "Let's wrap the tree in tinsel," she proposed, already rolling out the tinsel to get a clear view at how long it was.

Loke nodded, copying her movements until the tinsel had been fully unraveled. They each took a side of the tinsel and with one just one look, had already communicated as to how they were to wrap it around the tree. Aries moved to the back of the tree, placing one of the ends at the bottom before Loke came around to wrap the rest of the tinsel around the tree, walking in a circle around the tree as Aries fixed the tinsel he had wrapped.

"It looks good," Loke commented as soon as Aries finished fixing the tinsel at the top of the tree. She stepped back and nodded in agreement, before standing next to the zodiac leader.

"All that's left is the star," she noted, pointing to the top part of the tree which was left empty. He nodded before moving to get the star from the bag, placing it in Aries' hands when he had successfully picked it up.

She raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You do the honours Aries. It's your tree," Loke answered when he noticed her bemusement.

The pink ram nodded before moving to the tree, lifting her arm to place the topper on the tree. However, when she found that she was too short, she attempted to stand on her tiptoes in order to add more height leverage but apparently it wasn't enough when she saw that she could only just reach the tops of the tree. She was still too short to place the star on the tree properly she pouted in realisation.

Noticing her struggle, Loke decided to make a move. He quietly strode up from behind her before placing two firm hands on her waist. He secured his hands before easily lifting the ram up, hearing the squeal of surprise when Aries felt herself being lifted. Loke knew that he could have just taken the star out of her hands and placed the star on the tree himself, but he figured this would be more satisfying.

Aries was surprised at the sudden contact. One minute she was standing on her tiptoes trying to place the star on top of the tree and the next, she was being lifted by a pair of masculine arms in order to help her reach the tree. After getting over the initial shock, although not fully, Aries regained her senses and placed the star on top of the tree, carefully adjusting it so that the star stood perfectly on top of the tree.

When he noticed that she was done, Loke lowered her down, although he kept his hands firm on her waist. The ram noticed this and was trying to fight a pink blush from staining her cheeks as she looked away from Leo embarrassedly.

"L-Leo? You can let go now," she said softly, her shyness getting the better of her.

She felt him shake his head behind her as she felt him suddenly move. The next thing she knew, she felt his arms snake firmly around her waist as he pulled her into her, her back hitting gently against his muscular chest. She blushed at the realisation, allowing her bangs to fall into place as she tried steadying her beating heart. Loke had wrapped his arms around her and had her locked into an intimate embrace, pulling her closer to him as she smelt the strong scent of his cologne. Aries felt him place his chin on her shoulder, his breath tickling the sides of her neck.

"I don't want to though," he remarked softly, nestling his head in the crook of her neck.

Aries allowed the pink blush to stain her cheeks in shyness but she didn't say anything, instead allowing the lion spirit to embrace her intimately in front of the newly decorated Christmas tree.


End file.
